From the Place of Sunless Dawns
by Forgotten.Halogen
Summary: He asked, "May I look at you?" After a sigh, she relented, after all, she knew this day would eventually arrive. When his milky eyes, glowing like moonlight, looked up and melded into her chokeberry ones, his hand reached up and stroked her ebony cheek. "You're so beautiful, " he murmured. A Herobrine x Enderwoman story. In progress. Cover art by lolaartland from DeviantArt.
1. Elysium

**A/N: Although I do not play Minecraft frequently, I love its characters and its story-like aspects. Endermen have always fascinated me, along with the lore of Herobrine.**

 **The "place of sunless dawns" refers to Adrian's homeland, The End, a cold, hostile dimension.**

* * *

From the Place of the Sunless Dawns

 _Elysium-_

 _n. the abode of the blessed after death in classical mythology; paradise._

 _"You invade this pristine world, claiming it as your own simply by your presence..._

 _You slaughter innocent animals for their hides and flesh..._

 _You devastate the landscape and gouge out the landscape to hold your monuments of vanity..._

 _... And yet you call me the monster."_

 _-Anonymous_

* * *

 **I.**

The first time they met, her hands were freshly stained with blood, and his mind was freshly stained with curiosity.

When Adrian first arrived at the Overworld, she expected a world colder and lonelier than the Enderlands that she came from. After all, being exiled _was_ supposed to cast her off into a dire world inferior to the "superior kingdom" the enderpeople had built for themselves.

However, she was greeted by a huge, blinding yellow orb that was, oh so beautiful, and an affable creeper who told her the name of this mesmerizing sphere was "the sun".

For an entire "day"– the creeper patiently explained to her that a "day" was a complete cycle of the sun and moon over 24,000 ticks– she stared, watching the grey fade into the blissful azure, the color of dreams. The only shade of blue remotely close to the sky color was lapis lazuli, which she had only ever seen once on a pendant of an elderly enderwoman.

Why anyone would choose to look at the dull gemstone rather than this brilliant hue that stretched like a comforting blanket around this dimension was beyond her.

Then, she stared at the sphere that journeyed from horizon to horizon, tilting her face up to feel an unfamiliar warmth, the balmy sensation unknown to the terrain, inhabitants, and soul of The End.

This dimension was so pristine, fluorescent, almost.

Although both the Overworld and Enderlands possessed ethereal qualities, the eerily crystalline light and warmth of the Aether starkly contrasted to her spectral homeland.

The End was an unforgiving, remorseless glade, almost as cruel as its inhabitants. Adrian came to the conclusion that all the inhabitants of the Overworld, nurtured by the nectar and ambrosia of this dimension, were raised to be innocent, morals cultured by the Aether itself.

Afterwards, the sky blushed a deep crimson, with its light evanescing into trails of elderberry, the color of her people's eyes.

Abruptly reminded of her situation, the enderwoman tried to make herself feel the expected pangs of grief after exile but couldn't muster any regret or longing for her homeland. Adrian nodded to herself. Yes, she thought. I'll build myself a home here, or maybe wander the vast expanses of Elysium-

Her thoughts were cut off when she saw a creature, nothing like the spiders, skeletons, or zombies she has ever seen, run– no, gallop– towards her, swinging its oak sword.

She had heard fables of this creature, this human. They were stories, concocted to explain that the reason of their existence was to be killed by this being.

Adrian snorted. She could justify hurting it if the fleshbag were to come any closer with that laughable scrap of wood it swung, or would look her in the eyes...

Then it did just that, a gross violation of etiquette it tilted its gaze up and smirked at her, making eye contact.

Adrian also felt dull pricks of pain, perhaps it was stabbing her with that splinter of a weapon it held, but she was too enraged at its gaze to coherently interpret the stinging; instinctively, she teleported away to safety.

Letting out a guttural scream, she blinked back to her previous area, right behind her victim and delivered a series of blows to the offending human. It screamed in pain, and Adrian felt the edges of her vision blur, vaguely feeling herself shriek with laughter at the fleshbag's demise as she let her fury control her movements. She had forgotten the last time she had felt so keenly alive, feeling as if her emotion were released like a flood of water from a tidal wave.

Finally, the creature fell over and disappeared with a pixelated puff, leaving behind a pile of unidentifiable items.

Panting for a few seconds, Adrian recovered from her skirmish and sifted through the piles of exotic trinkets, chuckling to herself as she chewed on a loaf of bread from the human's inventory.

A voice behind her suddenly said, "Enjoying ourselves, are we?"

Adrian, startled, turned around, prepared to teleport away with her loot.

She felt her fury surge as she spun around, her hands reigniting with her chokeberry magic. To her surprise, the creature was empty-handed and kept his gaze respectfully below her eyes. Although he came without a weapon in his grasp, Adrian sensed that it was because he was capable of inflicting damage without needing an instrument.

Anger ebbing away, Adrian narrowed her eyes at him and asked sharply, "What do you want?

The creature chuckled, a deep sound that she couldn't help but admire, and replied lightly, "Why, I just wanted to welcome the newest inhabitant of this dimension. There are no need for hostilities, now. I mean no harm, unless, of course, you intend on trying me. I can assure you that," his voice became low and threatening as he nodded to the pile of items for emphasis, "I am nowhere near as incapable as that blockhead you just exploited." **(A/N: Pun intended.)**

Acutely attuned to magic due to her turbulent upbringing, Adrian felt the air cackle with invisible energy. From this, she realized that this being was not a mere human, and wondered, _if he isn't human, then what is he?_

Still, despite her curiosity, she suppressed her urge to ask.

Annoyed at his seemingly pointless introduction, Adrian sarcastically deadpanned, "The welcoming party was great, I just wish there was more cake to go around for everyone who attended. And oh, by the way, I might have gotten some blood on your carpet. Sorry about that."

This elicited another soft chuckle, and although his voice held the tone of a villain, it also had one of loose informality, as if he were taking off a rigid mask adversity.

Then, he looked up at the position of the sun, frowning slightly when he estimated the approximate time of day. "Well," he began. "My eternal duty in this realm won't complete itself, so good-bye for now."

Before she had chance to ask him what his important duty was, he had teleported away, leaving behind traces of endermagic that was tainted with hints of a different type of energy, one Adrian could not detect.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review, I welcome all criticism.**

 **"Adrian" is a an uncommon female name meaning "dark".**

 **A "tick" in minecraft is a unit of time that occurs every 0.05 seconds.**

 **I know that the Overworld is not normally known as the "Aether", as there is a mod that creates a new dimension called the "Aether", but the Overworld is heavenly compared to Adrian's experience in The End.**


	2. Happy

**A/N: I have recently started binge playing Minecraft, and it is extremely fun. It's interesting, though, that I've probably played a total of 10 hours myself, but have watched about 150+ hours of Minecraft from various Youtubers. Though I don't watch it anymore, I feel that Minecraft has an important role in my life, even before I started actually playing it.**

* * *

 _Happy-_

 _adj. feeling or showing pleasure or contentment; untroubled._

 _"Just want to feel,_

 _The stars around;_

 _The atmosphere,_

 _Never took them down._

 _I stand alone,_

 _Whether right or wrong._

 _It takes me home right where I belong."_

-Vicetone, from "What I've Waited For"

* * *

 **II.**

The second time they met, he was the hero that saved her from the briny waters of the ocean . **(A/N: Pun intended.)**

When the other mobs sought for the comfort of darkness underground or in shelters during the day, she marveled at light and admired the shining terrain.

The world glowed green as she lay on the emerald grass and inhaled its scent, and it smelled so _yellow_. She wondered why it was so green when the light it grew from was yellow.

The cycles of the earth intrigued her, as there were no celestial bodies in The End, just a cold and empty void of a starless night sky.

 _A night sky without stars_ , Adrian mused, _would be like an Aether without sunlight._

Though she enjoyed the day- the foreign warmth was incredibly pleasurable- she loved the night the most. The darkness reminded her of The End, but the night was also very different from the Enderlands. During the night, only some mobs came out, only some flowers bloomed, and only some chords of emotion felt. There was an unique aura that settled across the land after the moon appeared, one that laced the air with a craving for dark chocolate, the flavor of intimacy.

Adrian was jolted out of her thoughts as the ocean came into view.

It glistened more than lapis, and furthermore, it _flowed_. Lapis was a cold rock of vanity, but water was the essence of life itself. Waxing and waning like the moon, the water drew itself up in a restless crescendo and relaxed into a tranquil diminuendo; Adrian stared, open-mouthed, at the bestial yet serene body of water.

Drawn to it like a moth to a flame, Adrian couldn't help but slowly bring herself closer to the water. Examining the lapping foam that gathered around the sand, Adrian sat down, listening to the ocean's lullaby, a song of storms and despair, of life and vivacity. It held the shimmering grays of the earth, the soft blues of the skies, and the rich greens of life– land, heaven, and everything in between amassed into a single parcel. It even held an abyssal darkness, a signature trait of The End.

Ragged scraps of seaweed drifted by, their forms bending into the waves like dancers embracing a rhythm.

Enchanted by the hypnotic lull of the ocean, Adrian tried to trail her fingers through the water.

She screamed as she came in contact with the liquid. She hissed at the same time the foam hissed around her hands.

With a loud crack, the creature, the same creature who had bid her welcome to this new dimension, appeared. It was only after a few seconds of staring, from both parties, when Adrian realized he had a panicked look on his face. He must have realized this, too, as he instantly changed his expression to a smirk.

Clutching her hand that ached with a searing pain, Adrian snapped, "This isn't my arrival to this dimension, so you're not here to welcome me, and if you think you'll be bidding me farewell any time soon, you have sadly mistaken, as I will be staying here for a very long time. Clearly, you have no purpose here; now before you make a smug comment, consider leaving to let me heal."

Ignoring her irritation, the human-like creature produced a bottle of salve and held it out to her.

When he received her response of a defiant silence, saturated with irritation at his doubt of her capabilities to tend her own wounds, he swiftly grasped her arm and brought it close to him. Adrian suppressed a surprised gasp.

Eyes never traveling to her face, he poured some balm onto his fingers and began to anoint the burns on her hand. When he finished smoothing a layer of ointment over the scalded skin, she whispered a "Thank you," and added, "You appeared out of nowhere."

Realizing her statement was a disguised question, he shrugged and replied, "it's my obligation. Notch thinks the mobs are only good for being killed by the mindless fleshbags, so it is my job to make sure the creatures suffer more than they have to."

Herobrine found it interesting that there were well known potions to protect against burns from fires, fractures from falling, lacerations from arrows, and even from the blade of a sword, but there were no common remedies for water burns.

 _Notch made it a tad bit too obvious that he disliked the enderpeople,_ he thought. N _ot only did he isolate them on a dimension in their own and instill a self-consciousness that would plague and haunt them into slaughter, he also discouraged the production of a antidote to a substance that was lethal only to them._

Sensing the message behind his last sentence, Adrian said coolly, "They didn't have to force me to leave; they wanted me dead when I asked for a different spell casting technique, so I was more than happy to leave."

Both of them inwardly snorted at the irony of what she had just said.

 _Happy_.

Absently staring at the sea, they both wondered, where does an emotion like that, a chemical so obscure that supposedly exists in their brains, foster in a world of pixels like this one?

They sat in silence, lost in their own thought until the creature asked, with genuine interest, "What's your name?"

Adrian replied, "Does it really matter? It's just a label, a cluster of syllables someone else gave me. Someone else that is dead to me, now."

Surprised at her response, he decided not to probe further.

Then, after a long delay, she finally said, "Adrian."

He smiled, responding with "Herobrine."

* * *

 **A/N: I've always wondered why water is toxic to endermen; if any of you were to leave a review explaining why that is, I can write a chapter showcasing your theory c:**

 **My description of the ocean is a reference to the lovely poem by Leonard Cohen; y'all definitely should check it out.**

 **The ocean fascinates me; I remember when I was in preschool, around 4 years old, and I would fly through the glossy pages of a picture book featuring oceanography, begging my mother to read it to me. My favorite was the midnight zone critters, the ones that live their entire lives blanketed by darkness, thriving near the thermal vents.**

 **I don't even visit the beach often, despite living in the coastal plains. I guess I just liked the learning aspect of it. :/**

 **Anyways, be sure to drop a review below, and follow/favorite if you enjoyed it; it would really mean a lot!**


	3. The Lacerated Sky

**A/N : I'm back, everyone, with 140+ more hours of Minecraft under my belt. I seriously need to stop T _T**

 **Anywho,**

 **major_fangirl_inhere17 : Thanks, I freaking love you too**

 **ShadeTh9Scourge: Oh wow o_o I never really thought about it that way. After all, our ancestors _were_ anerobic bacteria... And yes, thank you. Fixed.**

 **AnonymousFangirl01: Thanks babe, means a lot ❤️**

 **Anon: LOL, no it's not ;p Fap all you want to this~**

 **Kiki's Stories of Awesomeness: Sure thing, sis. I bet it's a hella awesome story**

 **JCat: I know right? You are just... so.. cool!**

* * *

 _Though you don't believe in angels ,_  
 _You were set for me_  
 _In a world full of strangers,_  
 _I'll be all you need,_  
 _The ground below your feet_

 _So hold tight,_  
 _Say the figure in your eyes_  
 _I won't let you go tonight_  
 _Let me in,_  
 _Just say the word,_  
 _Say the word,_

 _I promise I'll never break your heart,_  
 _So let me make your heart_  
 _Beat again_

"Beat Again" by Project 46 ft. Karl Wolf

* * *

 **III.**

The third time they met, he realized that she had an inscrutable attraction to things that could kill her. For some reason, this caused him to feel an unfamiliar thrill that he tried to brush away, but just couldn't; it keep bubbling up in the back of his mind, the feeling that lurked with him wherever he went.

Adrian continued her wandering throughout this new dimension, still marveling at the vivacity that The End was deprived of, especially water. She itched to wrap the iridescent, yet dark layers of the ocean around her, but she feared the painmore.  
Then, her lucky day came unexpectedly, the day she finally got the chance to feel water all around her.

Ambling through a village, Adrian ignored the villager's shameless staring, and thanked her lucky stars that the iron golem did not sense enough evil in her still enderpearl heart to start attacking her.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of movement and a slamming of doors.  
Adrian then knew that an alarming event was about to happen when all the villagers started to run inside and bolt their doors.

It started out as a faint strumming behind her, which she did not notice at first. It grew to a loud patter, which caused Adrian to turn around right as a a bolt of lightning flashed and a ferocious roar of thunder boomed.

Then, the rain came.

Mother nature's wrath streamed down in torrents, and Adrian could only watch as her body flashed red and began losing focus as the tremendous amount of pain began to take over her senses.

Out of nowhere, a hand reached out to grab her, with the figure it belonged to muttering something incomprehensible besides the words "...suicidal... Just standing there and watching yourself die...".

Despite being incoherent from her pain and damage taken, she recognized that voice, Herobrine's voice. _I'm not suicidal_ , she wanted to tell him. _I just love something that would kill me so much that I'd let myself die for it._ Her thoughts paused for a moment. _Oh, wait, I guess that does make me suicidal._ Abruptly disrupted from her thoughts when she realized that she was being dragged out of the rain and into a house, Adrian impulsively teleported away, but he followed her with a teleport of his own. Before he could teleport both of them back, however, Adrian teleported again, this time, onto a sunny meadow where it was not raining.

Gasping and collapsing on the ground, Adrian felt her body give as she pressed onto the grass. He reached for her again, but she was faster; in spite of her barely conscious state, she manage to blink away just in time. Like expected, Herobine followed, this time, growling, "Stupid enderwoman, just let me take care of you."

She began to question her reasons for trying to run from him, and when her fuzzy mind tried think of a justification for rejecting his help, she found none, so she let out a small sigh, relaxing her muscles and extinguished her magic. She relented.

Then, her vision went black.

* * *

Adrian regained consciousness as Herobrine was wrapping fresh bandages around her shoulders. Even though she stood completely still, she ached everywhere. For a while, she watched him smooth ointment on her skin and tie cloth around it, feeling the stinging pain recede slowly.

He paused for a moment, respectfully keeping his eyes away from her face.

He asked, "May I look at you?"

After a sigh, she relented, after all, she knew this day would eventually arrive.  
When his milky eyes, glowing like moonlight, looked up and melded into her chokeberry ones, his hand reached up and stroked her ebony cheek. "You're so beautiful, " he murmured.

She inhaled sharply at this intimate gesture.

Never breaking away from his gaze, she breathed, "Thank you for taking care of me."

She could feel this lips curve into a smile as they pressed against hers.

* * *

 **A/N: Title is a reference to the song "Raining Blood" by Slayer. Not really the genre of music that I like, but it's lyrics are very expressive.**

 **Please leave a review if you have anything on your mind, and follow and/or fav if you liked it!**

 **Thanks for reading! Next chapter will be up "soon" (as soon as I stop binge playing MC and keep writing)!**


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